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Based on a report produced by a rwandan non-governmental organization shortly after the end of the tutsi genocide, this article examines the composition and organisation of rwandan death squads (ibitero), focusing in particular on the gikondo massacre in kigali on 9 april 1994. Although genocidal perpetrators came from every segment of the population, and were thus the reflection of an “ordinary society”, there were nonetheless significant power struggles within the death squads. Certain notable genocidal players did not necessarily reproduce previous social and political hierarchies: political opportunism, ideological beliefs and murderous innovation were both motivations and resources mobilised by so-called “notorious murderers”.